Word: likud
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Bombshell No. 1-which happily turned out to be a dud-was the announcement that Menachem Begin, hawkish leader of the victorious right-wing Likud coalition in the election a fortnight ago, had been rushed to a Tel Aviv hospital complaining of chest pains. That raised doubts about whether Begin, 63, who had suffered a serious heart attack only two months ago, was well enough to head a new government. The Likud leader, however, quickly recovered from what turned out to be exhaustion and a mild bout of angina pectoris, and astonished his countrymen by dropping bombshell...
...announcement was political dynamite. In the first place, it shook up the already volatile Likud, which won 43 seats in the elections but needs the support of at least 18 members of other parties to have a fragile but workable majority in the 120-member Knesset. Begin apparently chose Dayan without consulting any of his colleagues, and many were furious. In addition, one of Likud's potential coalition partners, the new Democratic Movement for Change, temporarily broke off talks with Likud. With the possibility of a revolt on his hands, Begin called a weekend meeting of the Likud executive...
...reaction from the Labor Party to Dayan's defection was one of outrage. "This is political prostitution and betrayal," cried Israel Kargman, chairman of the Knesset finance committee. "He has caused us trouble for years," snapped Labor's Jerusalem leader, Uzi Baram. "Let Likud enjoy him now." Labor Party Leader Shimon Peres was reported to be "stunned"; he and Dayan were political allies for 25 years, and left Labor together in 1965; they rejoined the party three years later. Labor officials also blamed the Carter Administration for Begin's nomination of Dayan as well as the Likud...
...Teveth, "and he will have a moderating effect." Most political observers in Israel took the opposite view: Begin was clearly signaling to Arabs and Americans alike that Israel's new government was prepared to resist any pressure from Washington for a peace settlement on unacceptable terms. Dayan and Likud's campaign manager, Ezer Weizman,* who is expected to become Defense Minister, played principal military roles in the wars of 1956 and 1967, both of which began with Israeli surprise attacks. To some, a Begin-Dayan-Weizman team sounded ominously like a war Cabinet...
...LIKUD AND LABOR. The difference between the parties is not on a Palestinian state, not on Jerusalem never to be divided again, not on no return to the lines of 1967. The difference is that the Labor Party says we should be ready to give back part of Judea and Samaria [the West Bank]. Likud is not ready to do so. To whom are we going to give it back? [In 1948] King Abdullah invaded this country from Jordan, he killed our people, destroyed our synagogues and he occupied part of it. Then in the early '50s he annexed...